Deepak Chopra is an Indian American author, public speaker, doctor, and philosopher.

He is one of the best-known and wealthiest figures in the “holistic-health” movement and has published more than 80 books including 22 New York Times best sellers.

Here are 116 profound Deepak Chopra quotes:

1. “If you want to do really important things in life and big things in life, you can’t do anything by yourself. And your best teams are your friends and your siblings.” – Deepak Chopra

2. “Enlightened leadership is spiritual if we understand spirituality not as some kind of religious dogma or ideology but as the domain of awareness where we experience values like truth, goodness, beauty, love and compassion, and also intuition, creativity, insight and focused attention.” – Deepak Chopra

9. “So many things happen for every event, and if you try to manipulate it, it means you are struggling against the whole universe, and that’s just silly.” – Deepak Chopra

10. “Traditional science assumes, for the most part, that an objective observer independent reality exists; the universe, stars, galaxies, sun, moon and earth would still be there if no one was looking.” – Deepak Chopra

11. “We all feel the urge to condemn ourselves out of guilt, to blame others for our misfortunes and to fantasize about total disaster.” – Deepak Chopra

12. “The masculine energy was about survival. The male was the hunter who risked his life and had to be in the fight-flight mode.” – Deepak Chopra

13. “I’ve worked all my life on the subject of awareness, whether it’s awareness of the body, awareness of the mind, awareness of your emotions, awareness of your relationships, or awareness of your environment. I think the key to transforming your life is to be aware of who you are.” – Deepak Chopra

14. “But the real secret to lifelong good health is actually the opposite: Let your body take care of you.” – Deepak Chopra

15. “You have to think of your brand as a kind of myth. A myth is a compelling story that is archetypal, if you know the teachings of Carl Jung. It has to have emotional content and all the themes of a great story: mystery, magic, adventure, intrigue, conflicts, contradiction, paradox.” – Deepak Chopra

16. “Karma, when properly understood, is just the mechanics through which consciousness manifests.”- – Deepak Chopra

17. “Karma is experience, and experience creates memory, and memory creates imagination and desire, and desire creates karma again. If I buy a cup of coffee, that’s karma. I now have that memory that might give me the potential desire for having cappuccino, and I walk into Starbucks, and there’s karma all over again.” – Deepak Chopra

18. “In every conversation I’ve had – with housewives in Mumbai, with middle-class people, upper-class, in the slums – everyone says there is an underlying consciousness of karma. That people believe in karma – that what you’re putting out is going to come back. If I do something to you, the energy of it is going to come back to me in the future.” – Deepak Chopra

19. “No matter how closely you examine the water, glucose, and electrolyte salts in the human brain, you can’t find the point where these molecules became conscious.” – Deepak Chopra

21. “The intention to live as long as possible isn’t one of the mind’s best intentions, because quantity isn’t the same as quality.” – Deepak Chopra

22. “There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle.” – Deepak Chopra

23. “Karma, memory, and desire are just the software of the soul. It’s conditioning that the soul undergoes in order to create experience. And it’s a cycle. In most people, the cycle is a conditioned response. They do the same things over and over again.” – Deepak Chopra

24. “We are not victims of aging, sickness and death. These are part of scenery, not the seer, who is immune to any form of change. This seer is the spirit, the expression of eternal being.” – Deepak Chopra

25. “Many scientists think that philosophy has no place, so for me it’s a sad time because the role of reflection, contemplation, meditation, self inquiry, insight, intuition, imagination, creativity, free will, is in a way not given any importance, which is the domain of philosophers.” – Deepak Chopra

26. “You can’t make positive choices for the rest of your life without an environment that makes those choices easy, natural, and enjoyable.” – Deepak Chopra

27. “Your conscious brain cannot multitask. If I’m speaking to you and checking my I-Phone at the same time, I’m doing neither. This is why our society is frazzled; this misconception that we can consciously do more than one thing at a time effectively.” – Deepak Chopra

28. “Our minds influence the key activity of the brain, which then influences everything; perception, cognition, thoughts and feelings, personal relationships; they’re all a projection of you.” – Deepak Chopra

29. “Life gives you plenty of time to do whatever you want to do if you stay in the present moment.” – Deepak Chopra

31. “There are receptors to these molecules in your immune system, in your gut and in your heart. So when you say, ‘I have a gut feeling’ or ‘my heart is sad’ or ‘I am bursting with joy,’ you’re not speaking metaphorically. You’re speaking literally.” – Deepak Chopra

32. “The less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers.” – Deepak Chopra

33. “The way you think, the way you behave, the way you eat, can influence your life by 30 to 50 years.” – Deepak Chopra

34. “You and I are essentially infinite choice-makers. In every moment of our existence, we are in that field of all possibilities where we have access to an infinity of choices.” – Deepak Chopra

35. “The real key is to live in an environment where the mind feels free to choose the right thing instead of being compelled by habit and inertia to choose the wrong thing.” – Deepak Chopra

36. “A child in India grows up with the idea that you have to make choices that will create a better future. In fact, your whole life is a continuum of choices, so the more conscious you are, the greater your life will be.” – Deepak Chopra

37. “Self-awareness is value-free. It isn’t scary. It doesn’t imply that you will subject yourself to needless pain.” – Deepak Chopra

38. “People need to know that they have all the tools within themselves. Self-awareness, which means awareness of their body, awareness of their mental space, awareness of their relationships – not only with each other, but with life and the ecosystem.” – Deepak Chopra

39. “Although we take it for granted, sanitation is a physical measure that has probably done more to increase human life span than any kind of drug or surgery.” – Deepak Chopra

41. “Mature workers are less impulsive, less reactive, more creative and more centered.” – Deepak Chopra

42. “Spirituality is meant to take us beyond our tribal identity into a domain of awareness that is more universal.” – Deepak Chopra

43. “The world sometimes feels like an insane asylum. You can decide whether you want to be an inmate or pick up your visitor’s badge. You can be in the world but not engage in the melodrama of it; you can become a spiritual being having a human experience thoroughly and fully.” – Deepak Chopra

44. “Nothing is more important than reconnecting with your bliss. Nothing is as rich. Nothing is more real.” – Deepak Chopra

45. “For thousands of years, human beings have been obsessed with beauty, truth, love, honor, altruism, courage, social relationships, art, and God. They all go together as subjective experiences, and it’s a straw man to set God up as the delusion. If he is, then so is truth itself or beauty itself.” – Deepak Chopra

46. “We must go beyond the constant clamor of ego, beyond the tools of logic and reason, to the still, calm place within us: the realm of the soul.” – Deepak Chopra

47. “There is no fixed physical reality, no single perception of the world, just numerous ways of interpreting world views as dictated by one’s nervous system and the specific environment of our planetary existence.” – Deepak Chopra

48. “We have to really educate ourselves in a way about who we are, what our real identity is.” – Deepak Chopra

49. “Before a brain can register a thought, a mind must think it… every step of the way is mind over matter… We override our brains all the time.” – Deepak Chopra

50. “Globalism began as a vision of a world with free trade, shared prosperity, and open borders. These are good, even noble things to aim for.” – Deepak Chopra

51. “Well-being changes as we move through life, which is why a child’s version of it cannot be the same as an old person’s.” – Deepak Chopra

52. “Dynamic activity and deep rest of the mind are complementary to each other.” – Deepak Chopra

54. “Our most important task is to transform our consciousness so that violence is no longer an option for us in our personal lives, that understanding that a world of peace is possible only if we relate to each other as peaceful beings, one individual at a time.” – Deepak Chopra

55. “Self-awareness is not just relaxation and not just meditation. It must combine relaxation with activity and dynamism. Technology can aid that.” – Deepak Chopra

56. “What happens is consciousness operates in mysterious ways. One of those ways is that the old paradigm suddenly starts to die.” – Deepak Chopra

57. “Perceptual reality is different for different species. In certain species it is a mode of observation, so what we call scientific fact is actually not ultimate truth, it is perceptual experience, and it’s a mode of observation.” – Deepak Chopra

58. “The physical world, including our bodies, is a response of the observer. We create our bodies as we create the experience of our world.” – Deepak Chopra

60. “Consciousness, rather than being an epiphenomenon of matter, is actually the source of matter. It differentiates into space, time, energy, information, and matter. Even though this view is an ancient view, an ancient world view, it is now finding some resonance amongst a few scientists.” – Deepak Chopra

61. “Wall Street is broken for sure because it succumbed to greed and corruption and pure speculation with no values.” – Deepak Chopra

62. “Seeking can become stressful when you apply the same laws that you apply in the material world – hard work, exacting plans, driving ambition, and attachment to outcome.” – Deepak Chopra

63. “If you and I are having a single thought of violence or hatred against anyone in the world at this moment, we are contributing to the wounding of the world.” – Deepak Chopra

65. “In societies where mature workers are respected and where their wisdom is respected, everybody benefits. Workers are more engaged and productive. Their health is better. They live longer.” – Deepak Chopra

66. “I have all the time in the world. I am in touch with the timeless. I am surrounded by infinity. When I think like that, it doesn’t mean I’m going to miss my train, it just means that I’m not thinking about it right now because I’m speaking to you.” – Deepak Chopra

67. “No solution can ever be found by running in three different directions.” – Deepak Chopra

68. “I, of course, meditate for two hours every morning. It’s part of my schedule; I wake up at 4 a.m. every day and I love it.” – Deepak Chopra

69. “We can actually accelerate the process through meditation, through the ability to find stillness through loving actions, through compassion and sharing, through understanding the nature of the creative process in the universe and having a sense of connection to it. So, that’s conscious evolution.” – Deepak Chopra

70. “As long as you think of your real self as the person you are, then of course you’re going to be fearful of death. But what is a person? A person is a pattern of behavior, of a larger awareness. You know, the two-year-old dies before the three-year-old shows up, the three-year-old dies before the teenager shows up.” – Deepak Chopra

71. “I feel genius in great works of art. I have seen medical cures that science can’t explain, some seemingly triggered by faith. The same is true of millions of other people.” – Deepak Chopra

72. “The symbolic language of the crucifixion is the death of the old paradigm; resurrection is a leap into a whole new way of thinking.” – Deepak Chopra

73. “It takes a little bit of mindfulness and a little bit of attention to others to be a good listener, which helps cultivate emotional nurturing and engagement.” – Deepak Chopra

74. “In a person’s career, well, if you’re process-oriented and not totally outcome-oriented, then you’re more likely to be success. I often say ‘pursue excellence, ignore success.’ Success is a by-product of excellence.” – Deepak Chopra

75. “In moments of transcendence, when time stands still, your biological clock will stop. The spirit is that domain of our awareness where there is no time.” – Deepak Chopra

77. “We must revisit the idea that science is a methodology and not an ontology.” – Deepak Chopra

78. “Research has shown that the best way to be happy is to make each day happy.” – Deepak Chopra

79. “I think we need the feminine qualities of leadership, which include attention to aesthetics and the environment, nurturing, affection, intuition and the qualities that make people feel safe and cared for.” – Deepak Chopra

82. “Once the fabric of a just society is undone, it takes generations to weave it back together.” – Deepak Chopra

83. “Spiritual people should not be ashamed of being wealthy.” – Deepak Chopra

84. “I teach people that no matter what the situation is, no matter how chaotic, no matter how much drama is around you, you can heal by your presence if you just stay within your center.” – Deepak Chopra

85. “Wealth is the progressive realization of worthy goals, the ability to love and have compassion, meaningful and caring relationships.” – Deepak Chopra

86. “You can free yourself from aging by reinterpreting your body and by grasping the link between belief and biology.” – Deepak Chopra

88. “Our thinking and our behavior are always in anticipation of a response. It is therefore fear-based.” – Deepak Chopra

89. “And for me anyway, consciousness is three components: a personal component which, for lack of a better word, we can call the soul. A collective component, which is more archetypal, and a deeper level, and then a universal domain of consciousness.” – Deepak Chopra

90. “In my definition of consciousness, consciousness is the same thing as life. What wisdom traditions also call spirit.” – Deepak Chopra

91. “There is just no getting around that turning bad things into good things is up to you.” – Deepak Chopra

92. “Modern medicine, for all its advances, knows less than 10 percent of what your body knows instinctively.” – Deepak Chopra

93. “Happiness is a continuation of happenings which are not resisted.” – Deepak Chopra

94. “Every person is a god in embryo. Its only desire is to be born.” – Deepak Chopra

95. “A person is a pattern of behavior, of a larger awareness.” – Deepak Chopra

97. “A risk-free life is far from being a healthy life.” – Deepak Chopra

98. “Yes, in all my research, the greatest leaders looked inward and were able to tell a good story with authenticity and passion.” – Deepak Chopra

99. “We’re living in a time when the world has suddenly discovered India because it’s run out of raw material for its imagination. The raw materials for imagination are inexhaustible here.” – Deepak Chopra

116. “From a scientist’s perspective, to understand everything that you need to know about human beings, you only have to tinker with all the mechanical parts of genes and the brain until there are no more secrets left.” – Deepak Chopra

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